Select Page

Overview of the Education sector in South America

Overview of the Education sector in South America

Across all the continents the pandemic has affected educational travel.

Although there were fewer students before, now students are enquiring again about studying abroad and looking for different opportunities for foreign educational trips. Nevertheless, the pandemic has changed the priorities of students.

Latin American agency association group collected data from the national agency associations of Mexico (AMTE), Colombia (Anex Colombia), Ecuador (COICEC), Argentina (ARSAA) and Brazil (BELTA), on current and future trends in educational travel, market recovery and factors in choosing schools and establishing partnerships.

The survey was distributed electronically to 41 agencies across the region, and the report shows results for Latin America as a whole, as well as results by individual markets of each country. The results of the survey were recently discussed during the webinar ‘Overview of the current situation in LATAM and trends for the future that was available to educators, agents and service providers from around the world.

The overall hopes and predictions for 2022 showed optimistic results as agencies expected an average of 63 per cent of 2019 levels in 2022. The positivity is reflected in various amounts according to the country but overall it shows that students are ready and eager to study abroad as enquiries are rising.

According to the findings from the survey, the most popular programme sold currently are English language courses but programmes with undergraduate and pathway courses are also ranked high.

Alexandre Argenta, President of Belta, said that language programmes that include work are attractive part of the study programmes and many agencies were able to promote higher education because many destinations allowed tertiary students to travel before other sectors.

The main destination that students are applying for is Canada. The demand for programmes in Canada is due to recent changes in migration and the pandemic. The UK has been very strong for many agents in South America but Canada has boosted its popularity and it is with 71% on the top.

Felipe Garces, President of ANEX, said that the destination where students apply are restricted to those where the students can travel to.

The reason why students choose a destination is to work while studying (39%)

good handling of the pandemic (27%) and easy visa processes (22%).

Good handling was the highest-scoring factor in Mexico and according to William Herrerra (President of AMTE) it is shown in the popularity of Canada as students consider that the country had handled

 the situation correctly and adapted quickly.

What matters when Latin American agencies choose their partners are factors such as accreditation, support when issues arise, prompt responses and marketing support.

Partnerships and cooperation between agents and schools have become very relevant, especially during the pandemic and as Felipe said:

“Agents and schools have to work together to create specific marketing plans.”

The LATAMA regional association was established in 2019 with the aim of finding common interests and concerns in the Latin American region so as to develop strategies to maximise their potential as a key market for international education

About The Author

Tim Gonzales

Tim has been writing for several educational magazines in English and Spanish. He has got a BA (Honours) in Education Studies and works also as an education consultant. When not working, he can be found hiking, taking the Metro and then questioning this decision, and haunting local bookstores.

Leave a Reply

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This